_Cecrops_ came from _Sais_ in _Egypt_ to _Cyprus_, and thence into _Attica_: and he might do this in the days of _Samuel_, and marry _Agraule_ the daughter of _Actaeus_, and succeed him in _Attica_ soon after, and leave his Kingdom to _Cranaus_ in the Reign of _Saul_, or in the beginning of the Reign of _David_: for the flood of _Deucalion_ happened in the Reign of _Cranaus_.
Of about the same age with _Pelasgus_, _Inachus_, _Lelex_, and _Actaeus_, was _Ogyges_: he Reigned in _Botia_, and some of his people were _Leleges_: and either he or his son _Eleusis_ built the city _Eleusis_ in _Attica_, that is, they built a few houses of clay, which in time grew into a city. _Acusilaus_ wrote that _Phoroneus_ was older than _Ogyges_, and that _Ogyges_ flourished 1020 years before the first Olympiad, as above; but _Acusilaus_ was an _Argive_, and feigned these things in honour of his country: to call things _Ogygian_ has been a phrase among the ancient _Greeks_, to signify that they are as old as the first memory of things; and so high we have now carried up the Chronology of the _Greeks_.
_Inachus_ might be as old as _Ogyges_, but _Acusilaus_ and his followers made them seven hundred years older than the truth; and Chronologers, to make out this reckoning, have lengthened the races of the Kings of _Argos_ and _Sicyon_, and changed several contemporary Princes of _Argos_ into successive Kings, and inserted many feigned Kings into the race of the Kings of _Sicyon_.
_Inachus_ had several sons, who Reigned in several parts of _Peloponnesus_, and there built Towns; as _Phoroneus_, who built _Phoronic.u.m_, afterwards called _Argos_, from _Argus_ his grandson; _aegialeus_, who built _aegialea_, afterwards called _Sicyon_, from _Sicyon_ the grandson of _Erechtheus_; _Phegeus_, who built _Phegea_, afterwards called _Psophis_, from _Psophis_ the daughter of _Lycaon_: and these were the oldest towns in _Peloponnesus_ then _Sisyphus_, the son of _aeolus_ and grandson of _h.e.l.len_, built _Ephyra_, afterwards called _Corinth_; and _Aethlius_, the son of _aeolus_, built _Elis_: and before them _Cecrops_ built _Cecropia_, the cittadel of _Athens_; and _Lycaon_ built _Lycosura_, reckoned by some the oldest town in _Arcadia_; and his sons, who were at least four and twenty in number, built each of them a town; except the youngest, called _Oenotrus_, who grew up after his father"s death, and sailed into _Italy_ with his people, and there set on foot the building of towns, and became the _Ja.n.u.s_ of the _Latines_. _Phoroneus_ had also several children and grand-children, who Reigned in several places, and built new towns, as _Car_, _Apis_, &c. and _Haemon_, the son of _Pelasgus_, Reigned in _Haemonia_, afterwards called _Thessaly_, and built towns there. This division and subdivision has made great confusion in the history of the first Kingdoms of _Peloponnesus_, and thereby given occasion to the vain-glorious _Greeks_, to make those kingdoms much older than they really were: but by all the reckonings abovementioned, the first civilizing of the _Greeks_, and teaching them to dwell in houses and towns, and the oldest towns in _Europe_, could scarce be above two or three Generations older than the coming of _Cadmus_ from _Zidon_ into _Greece_; and might most probably be occasioned by the expulsion of the Shepherds out of _Egypt_ in the days of _Eli_ and _Samuel_, and their flying into _Greece_ in considerable numbers: but it"s difficult to set right the Genealogies and Chronology of the Fabulous Ages of the _Greeks_, and I leave these things to be further examined.
Before the _Phnicians_ introduced the Deifying of dead men, the _Greeks_ had a Council of Elders in every town for the government thereof, and a place where the elders and people worshipped their G.o.d with Sacrifices: and when many of those towns, for their common safety, united under a common Council, they erected a _Prytaneum_ or Court in one of the towns, where the Council and People met at certain times, to consult their common safety, and worship their common G.o.d with sacrifices, and to buy and sell: the towns where these Councils met, the _Greeks_ called d???, peoples or communities, or Corporation Towns: and at length, when many of these d???
for their common safety united by consent under one common Council, they erected a _Prytaneum_ in one of the d??? for the common Council and People to meet in, and to consult and worship in, and feast, and buy, and sell; and this d??? they walled about for its safety, and called t?? p???? the city: and this I take to have been the original of Villages, Market-Towns, Cities, common Councils, Vestal Temples, Feasts and Fairs, in _Europe_: the _Prytaneum_, p???? tae???, was a Court with a place of worship, and a perpetual fire kept therein upon an Altar for sacrificing: from the word ??st?a fire, came the name _Vesta_, which at length the people turned into a G.o.ddess, and so became fire-worshippers like the ancient _Persians_: and when these Councils made war upon their neighbours, they had a general commander to lead their armies, and he became their King.
So _Thucydides_ [203] tells us, that _under_ Cecrops _and the ancient Kings, untill _Theseus_; _Attica_ was always inhabited city by city, each having Magistrates and _Prytanea_: neither did they consult the King, when there was no fear of danger, but each apart administred their own common-wealth, and had their own Council, and even sometimes made war, as the _Eleusinians_ with _Eumolpus_ did against _Erechtheus_: but when _Theseus_, a prudent and potent man obtained the Kingdom, he took away the Courts and Magistrates of the other cities, and made them all meet in one Council and _Prytaneum_ at _Athens__. _Polemon_, as he is cited by [204]
_Strabo_, tells us, _that in this body of _Attica_, there were 170 _d???_, one of which was _Eleusis__: and _Philochorus_ [205] relates, that _when _Attica_ was infested by sea and land by the _Cares_ and _Boti_, _Cecrops_ the first of any man reduced the mult.i.tude, _that is the 170 towns_, into twelve cities, whose names were _Cecropia_, _Tetrapolis_, _Epacria_, _Decelia_, _Eleusis_, _Aphydna_, _Thoricus_, _Brauron_, _Cytherus_, _Sphettus_, _Cephissia_, and _Phalerus_; and that _Theseus_ contracted those twelve cities into one, which was _Athens__.
The original of the Kingdom of the _Argives_ was much after the same manner: for _Pausanias_ [206] tells us, _that _Phoroneus_ the son of _Inachus_ was the first who gathered into one community the _Argives_, who "till then were scattered, and lived every where apart, and the place where they were first a.s.sembled was called _Phoronic.u.m_, the city of _Phoroneus__: and _Strabo_ [207] observes, _that _Homer_ calls all the places which he reckons up in _Peloponnesus_, a few excepted, not cities but regions, because each of them consisted of a convention of many_ d???, _free towns, out of which afterward n.o.ble cities were built and frequented: so the _Argives_ composed _Mantinaea_ in _Arcadia_ out of five towns, and _Tegea_ out of nine; and out of so many was _Heraea_ built by _Cleombrotus_, or by _Cleonymus_: so also _aegium_ was built out of seven or eight towns, _Patrae_: out of seven, and _Dyme_ out of eight; and so _Elis_ was erected by the conflux of many towns into one city._
_Pausanias_ [208] tells us, that the _Arcadians_ accounted _Pelasgus_ the first man, and that he was their first King; and _taught the ignorant people to built houses, for defending themselves from heat, and cold, and rain; and to make them garments of skins; and instead of herbs and roots, which were sometimes noxious, to eat the acorns of the beech tree_; and that his son _Lycaon_ built the oldest city in all _Greece_: he tells us also, that in the days of _Lelex_ the _Spartans_ lived in villages apart.
The _Greeks_ therefore began to build houses and villages in the days of _Pelasgus_ the father of _Lycaon_, and in the days of _Lelex_ the father of _Myles_, and by consequence about two or three Generations before the Flood of _Deucalion_, and the coming of _Cadmus_; "till then [209] they lived in woods and caves of the earth. The first houses were of clay, "till the brothers _Euryalus_ and _Hyperbius_ taught them to harden the clay into bricks, and to build therewith. In the days of _Ogyges_, _Pelasgus_, _aezeus_, _Inachus_ and _Lelex_, they began to build houses and villages of clay, _Doxius_ the son of _Clus_ teaching them to do it; and in the days of _Lycaon_, _Phoroneus_, _aegialeus_, _Phegeus_, _Eurotas_, _Myles_, _Polycaon_, and _Cecrops_, and their sons, to a.s.semble the villages into d???, and the d??? into cities.
When _Oenotrus_ the son of _Lycaon_ carried a Colony into _Italy_, _he_ [210] _found that country for the most part uninhabited; and where it was inhabited, peopled but thinly: and seizing a part of it, he built towns in the mountains, little and numerous_, as above: these towns were without walls; but after this Colony grew numerous, and began to want room, _they expelled the _Siculi_, compa.s.sed many cities with walls, and became possest of all the territory between the two rivers _Liris_ and _Tibre__: and it is to be understood that those cities had their Councils and _Prytanea_ after the manner of the _Greeks_: for _Dionysius_ [211] tells us, that the new Kingdom of _Rome_, as _Romulus_ left it, consisted of thirty Courts or Councils, in thirty towns, each with the sacred fire kept in the _Prytaneum_ of the Court, for the Senators who met there to perform Sacred Rites, after the manner of the _Greeks_: _but when _Numa_ the successor of _Romulus_ Reigned, he leaving the several fires in their own Courts, inst.i.tuted one common to them all at _Rome__: whence _Rome_ was not a compleat city before the days of _Numa_.
When navigation was so far improved that the _Phnicians_ began to leave the sea-sh.o.r.e, and sail through the _Mediterranean_ by the help of the stars, it may be presumed that they began to discover the islands of the _Mediterranean_, and for the sake of trafic to sail as far as _Greece_: and this was not long before they carried away _Io_ the daughter of _Inachus_, from _Argos_. The _Cares_ first infested the _Greek_ seas with piracy, and then _Minos_ the son of _Europa_ got up a potent fleet, and sent out Colonies: for _Diodorus_ [212] tells us, that the _Cyclades_ islands, those near _Crete_, were at first desolate and uninhabited; but _Minos_ having a potent fleet, sent many Colonies out of _Crete_, and peopled many of them; and particularly that the island _Carpathus_ was first seized by the soldiers of _Minos_: _Syme_ lay waste and desolate "till _Triops_ came thither with a Colony under _Chthonius_: _Strongyle_ or _Naxus_ was first inhabited by the _Thracians_ in the days of _Boreas_, a little before the _Argonautic_ Expedition: _Samsos_ was, at first desert, and inhabited only by a great mult.i.tude of terrible wild beasts, "till _Macareus_ peopled it, as he did also the islands _Chius_ and _Cos_. _Lesbos_ lay waste and desolate "till _Xanthus_ sailed thither with a Colony: _Tenedos_ lay desolate "till _Tennes_, a little before the _Trojan_ war, sailed thither from _Troas_. _Aristaeus_, who married _Autonoe_ the daughter of _Cadmus_, carried a Colony from _Thebes_ into _Caea_, an island not inhabited before: the island _Rhodes_ was at first called _Ophiusa_, being full of serpents, before _Phorbas_, a Prince of _Argos_, went thither, and made it habitable by destroying the serpents, which was about the end of _Solomon_"s Reign; in memory of which he is delineated in the heavens in the Constellation of _Ophiuchus_. The discovery of this and some other islands made a report that they rose out of the Sea: _in Asia Delos emersit, & Hiera, & Anaphe, & Rhodus_, saith [213] _Ammia.n.u.s_: and [214] _Pliny_; _clarae jampridem insulae, Delos & Rhodos memoriae produntur enatae, postea minores, ultra Melon Anaphe, inter Lemnum & h.e.l.lespontum Nea, inter Lebedum & Teon Halone_, &c.
_Diodorus_ [215] tells us also, that the seven islands called _aeolides_, between _Italy_ and _Sicily_, were desert and uninhabited "till _Lipparus_ and _aeolus_, a little before the _Trojan_ war, went thither from _Italy_, and peopled them: and that _Malta_ and _Gaulus_ or _Gaudus_ on the other side of _Sicily_, were first peopled by _Phnicians_; and so was _Madera_ without the _Straits_: and _Homer_ writes that _Ulysses_ found the Island _Ogygia_ covered with wood, and uninhabited, except by _Calypso_ and her maids, who lived in a cave without houses; and it is not likely that _Great Britain_ and _Ireland_ could be peopled before navigation was propagated beyond the _Straits_.
The _Sicaneans_ were reputed the first inhabitants of _Sicily_, they built little Villages or Towns upon hills, and every Town had its own King; and by this means they spread over the country, before they formed themselves into larger governments with a common King: _Philistus_ [216] saith that _they were transplanted into _Sicily_ from the River _Sica.n.u.s_ in _Spain__; and _Dionysius_ [217], that _they were a _Spanish_ people who fled from the _Ligures_ in _Italy__; he means the _Ligures_ [218] who opposed _Hercules_ when he returned from his expedition against _Geryon_ in _Spain_, and endeavoured to pa.s.s the _Alps_ out of _Gaul_ into _Italy_. _Hercules_ that year got into _Italy_, and made some conquests there, and founded the city _Croton_; and [219] after winter, upon the arrival of his fleet from _Erythra_ in _Spain_, sailed to _Sicily_, and there left the _Sicani_: for _it was his custom to recruit his army with conquered people, and after they had a.s.sisted him in making new conquests to reward them with new seats_: this was the _Egyptian Hercules_, who had a potent fleet, and in the days of _Solomon_ sailed to the _Straits_, and according to his custom set up pillars there, and conquered _Geryon_, and returned back by _Italy_ and _Sicily_ to _Egypt_, and was by the ancient _Gauls_ called _Ogmius_, and by _Egyptians_ [220] _Nilus_: for _Erythra_ and the country of _Geryon_ were without the _Straits_. _Dionysius_ [221] represents this _Hercules_ contemporary to _Evander_.
The first inhabitants of _Crete_, according to _Diodorus_ [222] were called _Eteocretans_; but whence they were, and how they came thither, is not said in history: then sailed thither a Colony of _Pelasgians_ from _Greece_; and soon after _Teutamus_, the grandfather of _Minos_, carried thither a Colony of _Dorians_ from _Laconia_, and from the territory of _Olympia_ in _Peloponnesus_: and these several Colonies spake several languages, and fed on the spontaeous fruits of the earth, and lived quietly in caves and huts, "till the invention of iron tools, in the days of _Asterius_ the son of _Teutamus_; and at length were reduced into one Kingdom, and one People, by _Minos_, who was their first law-giver, and built many towns and ships, and introduced plowing and sowing, and in whose days the _Curetes_ conquered his father"s friends in _Crete_ and _Peloponnesus_. The _Curetes_ [223]
sacrificed children to _Saturn_ and according to _Bochart_ [224] were _Philistims_; and _Eusebius_ faith that _Crete_ had its name from _Cres_, one of the _Curetes_ who nursed up _Jupiter_: but whatever was the original of the island, it seems to have been peopled by Colonies which spake different languages, "till the days of _Asterius_ and _Minos_; and might come thither two or three Generations before, and not above, for want of navigation in those seas.
The island _Cyprus_ was discovered by the _Phnicians_ not long before; for _Eratosthenes_ [225] tells us, _that _Cyprus_ was at first so overgrown with wood that it could not be tilled, and that they first cut down the wood for the melting of copper and silver, and afterwards when they began to sail safely upon the _Mediterranean__, that is, presently after the _Trojan_ war, _they built ships and even navies of it: and when they could not thus destroy the wood, they gave every man leave to cut down what wood he pleased, and to possess all the ground which he cleared of wood_. So also _Europe_ at first abounded very much with woods, one of which, called the _Hercinian_, took up a great part of _Germany_, being full nine days journey broad, and above forty long, in _Julius Caesar_"s days: and yet the _Europeans_ had been cutting down their woods, to make room for mankind, ever since the invention of iron tools, in the days of _Asterius_ and _Minos_.
All these footsteps there are of the first peopling of _Europe_, and its Islands, by sea; before those days it seems to have been thinly peopled from the northern coast of the _Euxine-sea_ by _Scythians_ descended from _j.a.phet_, who wandered without houses, and sheltered themselves from rain and wild beasts in thickets and caves of the earth; such as were the caves in mount _Ida_ in _Crete_, in which _Minos_ was educated and buried; the cave of _Cacus_, and the _Catacombs_ in _Italy_ near _Rome_ and _Naples_, afterwards turned into burying-places; the _Syringes_ and many other caves in the sides of the mountains of _Egypt_; the caves of the _Troglodites_ between _Egypt_ and the _Red Sea_, and those of the _Phaurusii_ in _Afric_, mentioned by [226] _Strabo_; and the caves, and thickets, and rocks, and high places, and pits, in which the _Israelites_ hid themselves from the _Philistims_ in the days of _Saul_, 1 _Sam._ xiii. 6. But of the state of mankind in _Europe_ in those days there is now no history remaining.
The antiquities of _Libya_ were not much older than those of _Europe_; for _Diodorus_ [227] tells us, that _Ura.n.u.s_ the father of _Hyperion_, and grandfather of _Helius_ and _Selene_, that is _Ammon_ the father of _Sesac_, _was their first common King, and caused the people, who "till then wandered up and down, to dwell in towns_: and _Herodotus_ [228] tells us, that all _Media_ was peopled by d???, towns without walls, "till they revolted from the _a.s.syrians_, which was about 267 years after the death of _Solomon_: and that after that revolt they set up a King over them, and built _Ecbatane_ with walls for his seat, the first town which they walled about; and about 72 years after the death of _Solomon_, _Benhadad_ King of _Syria_ [229] had two and thirty Kings in his army against _Ahab_: and when _Joshuah_ conquered the land of _Canaan_, every city of the _Canaanites_ had its own King, like the cities of _Europe_, before they conquered one another; and one of those Kings, _Adonibezek_, the King of _Bezek_ had conquered seventy other Kings a little before, _Judg._ i. 7. and therefore towns began to be built in that land not many ages before the days of _Joshuah_: for the Patriarchs wandred there in tents, and fed their flocks where-ever they pleased, the fields of _Phnicia_ not being yet fully appropriated, for want of people. The countries first inhabited by mankind, were in those days so thinly peopled, that [230] four Kings from the coasts of _Shinar_ and _Elam_ invaded and spoiled the _Rephaims_, and the inhabitants of the countries of _Moab_, _Ammon_, _Edom_, and the Kingdoms of _Sodom_, _Gomorrah_, _Admah_ and _Zeboim_; and yet were pursued and beaten by _Abraham_ with an armed force of only 318 men, the whole force which _Abraham_ and the princes with him could raise: and _Egypt_ was so thinly peopled before the birth of _Moses_, that _Pharaoh_ said of the _Israelites_; [231] _behold the people of the children of _Israel_ are more and mightier than we_: and to prevent their multiplying and growing too strong, he caused their male children to be drowned.
These footsteps there are of the first peopling of the earth by mankind, not long before the days of _Abraham_; and of the overspreading it with villages, towns and cities, and their growing into Kingdoms, first Smaller and then greater, until the rise of the Monarchies of _Egypt_, _a.s.syria_, _Babylon_, _Media_, _Persia_, _Greece_, and _Rome_, the first great Empires on this side _India_. _Abraham_ was the fifth from _Peleg_, and all mankind lived together in _Chaldea_ under the Government of _Noah_ and his sons, untill the days of _Peleg_: so long they were of one language, one society, and one religion: and then they divided the earth, being perhaps, disturbed by the rebellion of _Nimrod_, and forced to leave off building the tower of _Babel_: and from thence they spread themselves into the several countries which fell to their shares, carrying along with them the laws, customs and religion, under which they had "till those days been educated and governed, by _Noah_, and his sons and grandsons: and these laws were handed down to _Abraham_, _Melchizedek_, and _Job_, and their contemporaries, and for some time were observed by the judges of the eastern countries: so _Job_ [232]
tells us, that adultery was _an heinous crime, yea an iniquity to be punished by the judges_: and of idolatry he [233] saith, _If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly inticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand, this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the G.o.d that is above_: and there being no dispute between _Job_ and his friends about these matters, it may be presumed that they also with their countrymen were of the same religion. _Melchizedek_ was a Priest of the most high G.o.d, and _Abraham_ voluntarily paid tythes to him; which he would scarce have done had they not been of one and the same religion. The first inhabitants of the land of _Canaan_ seem also to have been originally of the same religion, and to have continued in it "till the death of _Noah_, and the days of _Abraham_; for _Jerusalem_ was anciently [234] called _Jebus_, and its people _Jebusites_, and _Melchizedek_ was their Priest and King: these nations revolted therefore after the days of _Melchizedek_ to the worship of false G.o.ds; as did also the posterity of _Ismael_, _Esau_, _Moab_, _Ammon_, and that of _Abraham_ by _Keturah_: and the _Israelites_ themselves were very apt to revolt: and one reason why _Terah_ went from _Ur_ of the _Chaldees_ to _Haran_ in his way to the land of _Canaan_; and why _Abraham_ afterward left _Haran_, and went into the land of _Canaan_, might be to avoid the worship of false G.o.ds, which in their days began in _Chaldea_, and spread every way from thence; but did not yet reach into the land of _Canaan_. Several of the laws and precepts in which this primitive religion consisted are mentioned in the book of _Job_, chap. i. ver. 5, and chap, x.x.xi, _viz._ _not to blaspheme G.o.d, nor to worship the Sun or Moon, nor to kill, nor steal, nor to commit adultery, nor trust in riches, nor oppress the poor or fatherless, nor curse your enemies, nor rejoyce at their misfortunes: but to be friendly, and hospitable and merciful, and to relieve the poor and needy, and to set up Judges_. This was the morality and religion of the first ages, still called by the _Jews_, _The precepts of the sons of _Noah__: this was the religion of _Moses_ and the Prophets, comprehended in the two great commandments, of _loving the Lord our G.o.d with all our heart and soul and mind, and our neighbour as our selves_: this was the religion enjoyned by _Moses_ to the uncirc.u.mcised stranger within the gates of _Israel_, as well as to the _Israelites_: and this is the primitive religion of both _Jews_ and _Christians_, and ought to be the standing religion of all nations, it being for the honour of G.o.d, and good of mankind: and _Moses_ adds the precept of _being merciful even to brute beasts, so as not to suck out their blood, nor to cut off their flesh alive with the blood in it, nor to kill them for the sake of their blood, nor to strangle them; but in killing them for food, to let out their blood and spill it upon the ground_, _Gen._ ix. 4, and _Levit_. xvii. 12, 13. This law was ancienter than the days of _Moses_, being given to _Noah_ and his sons long before the days of _Abraham_: and therefore when the Apostles and Elders in the Council at _Jerusalem_ declared that the Gentiles were not obliged to be circ.u.mcised and keep the law of _Moses_, they excepted this law of _abstaining from blood, and things strangled_ as being an earlier law of G.o.d, imposed not on the sons of _Abraham_ only, but on all nations, while they lived together in _Shinar_ under the dominion of _Noah_: and of the same kind is the law of _abstaining from meats offered to Idols or false G.o.ds, and from fornication_. So then, _the believing that the world was framed by one supreme G.o.d, and is governed by him; and the loving and worshipping him, and honouring our parents, and loving our neighbour as our selves, and being merciful even to brute beasts_, is the oldest of all religions: and the Original of letters, agriculture, navigation, music, arts and sciences, metals, smiths and carpenters, towns and houses, was not older in _Europe_ than the days of _Eli_, _Samuel_ and _David_; and before those days the earth was so thinly peopled, and so overgrown with woods, that mankind could not be much older than is represented in Scripture.
CHAP. II
_Of the Empire of _Egypt_._
The _Egyptians_ anciently boasted of a very great and lasting Empire under their Kings _Ammon_, _Osiris_, _Bacchus_, _Sesostris_, _Hercules_, _Memnon_, &c. reaching eastward to the _Indies_, and westward to the _Atlantic Ocean_; and out of vanity have made this monarchy some thousands of years older than the world: let us now try to rectify the Chronology of _Egypt_; by comparing the affairs of _Egypt_ with the synchronizing affairs of the _Greeks_ and _Hebrews_.
_Bacchus_ the conqueror loved two women, _Venus_ and _Ariadne_: _Venus_ was the mistress of _Anchises_ and _Cinyras_, and mother of _aeneas_, who all lived "till the destruction of _Troy_; and the sons of _Bacchus_ and _Ariadne_ were _Argonauts_; as above: and therefore the great _Bacchus_ flourished but one Generation before the _Argonautic_ expedition. This _Bacchus_ [235] was potent at sea, conquered eastward as far as _India_ returned in triumph, brought his army over the _h.e.l.lespont_; conquered _Thrace_, left music, dancing and poetry there; killed _Lycurgus_ King of _Thrace_, and _Pentheus_ the grandson of _Cadmus_; gave the Kingdom of _Lycurgus_ to _Tharops_; and one of his minstrells, called by the _Greeks_ _Calliope_, to _Oeagrus_ the son of _Tharops_; and of _Oeagrus_ and _Calliope_ was born _Orpheus_, who sailed with the _Argonauts_: this _Bacchus_ was therefore contemporary to _Sesostris_; and both being Kings of _Egypt_, and potent at sea, and great conquerors, and carrying on their conquests into _India_ and _Thrace_, they must be one and the same man.
The antient _Greeks_, who made the fables of the G.o.ds, related that _Io_ the daughter of _Inachus_ was carried into _Egypt_; and there became the _Egyptian Isis_; and that _Apis_ the son of _Phoroneus_ after death became the G.o.d _Serapis_; and some said that _Epaphus_ was the son of _Io_: _Serapis_ and _Epaphus_ are _Osiris_, and therefore _Isis_ and _Osiris_, in the opinion of the ancient _Greeks_ who made the fables of the G.o.ds, were not above two or three Generations older than the _Argonautic_ expedition.
_Dicaearchus_, as he is cited by the scholiast upon _Apollonius_, [236]
represents them two Generations older than _Sesostris_, saying that after _Orus_ the son of _Osiris_ and _Isis_, Reigned _Sesonchosis_. He seems to have followed the opinion of the people of _Naxus_, who made _Bacchus_ two Generations older than _Theseus_, and for that end feigned two _Minos"s_ and two _Ariadnes_; for by the consent of all antiquity _Osiris_ and _Bacchus_ were one and the same King of _Egypt_: this is affirmed by the _Egyptians_, as well as by the _Greeks_; and some of the antient Mythologists, as _Eumolpus_ and _Orpheus_, [237] called _Osiris_ by the names of _Dionysus_ and _Sirius_. _Osiris_ was King of all _Egypt_, and a great conqueror, and came over the _h.e.l.lespont_ in the days of _Triptolemus_, and subdued _Thrace_, and there killed _Lycurgus_; and therefore his expedition falls in with that of the great _Bacchus_.
_Osiris_, _Bacchus_ and _Sesostris_ lived about the same time, and by the relation of historians were all of them Kings of all _Egypt_, and Reigned at _Thebes_, and adorned that city, and were very potent by land and sea: all three were great conquerors, and carried on their conquests by land through _Asia_ as far as _India_: all three came over the _h.e.l.lespont_ and were there in danger of losing their army: all three conquered _Thrace_, and there put a stop to their victories, and returned back from thence into _Egypt_: all three left pillars with inscriptions in their conquests: and therefore all three must be one and the same King of _Egypt_; and this King can be no other than _Sesac_. All _Egypt_, including _Thebais_, _Ethiopia_ and _Libya_, had no common King before the expulsion of the Shepherds who Reigned in the lower _Egypt_; no Conqueror of _Syria_, _India_, _Asia minor_ and _Thrace_, before _Sesac_; and the sacred history admits of no _Egyptian_ conqueror of _Palestine_ before this King.
_Thymaetes_ [238] who was contemporary to _Orpheus_, and wrote a poesy called _Phrygia_, of the actions of _Bacchus_ in very old language and character, said that _Bacchus_ had _Libyan_ women in his army, amongst whom was _Minerva_ a woman born in _Libya_, near the river _Triton,_ and that _Bacchus_ commanded the men and _Minerva_ the women. _Diodorus_ [239] calls her _Myrina_, and saith that she was Queen of the _Amazons_ in _Libya_, and there conquered the _Atlantides_ and _Gorgons_, and then made a league with _Orus_ the son of _Isis_, sent to her by his father _Osiris_ or _Bacchus_ for that purpose, and pa.s.sing through _Egypt_ subdued the _Arabians_, and _Syria_ and _Cilicia_, and came through _Phrygia_, _viz._ in the army of _Bacchus_ to the _Mediterranean_; but palling over into _Europe_, was slain with many of her women by the _Thracians_ and _Scythians_, under the conduct of _Sipylus_ a _Scythian_, and _Mopsus_ a _Thracian_ whom _Lycurgus_ King of _Thrace_ had banished. This was that _Lycurgus_ who opposed the pa.s.sage of _Bacchus_ over the _h.e.l.lespont_, and was soon after conquered by him, and slain: but afterwards _Bacchus_ met with a repulse from the _Greeks_, under the conduct of _Perseus_, who slew many of his women, as _Pausanias_ [240] relates, and was a.s.sisted by the _Scythians_ and _Thracians_ under the conduct of _Sipylus_ and _Mopsus_; which repulses, together with a revolt of his brother _Danaus_ in _Egypt_; put a stop to his victories: and in returning home he left part of his men in _Colchis_ and at _Mount Caucasus_, under _aeetes_ and _Prometheus_; and his women upon the river _Thermodon_ near _Colchis_, under their new Queens _Marthesia_ and _Lampeto_: for _Diodorus_ [241] speaking of the _Amazons_ who were seated at _Thermodon_, saith, that they dwelt originally in _Libya_, and there Reigned over the _Atlantides_, and invading their neighbours conquered as far as _Europe_: and _Ammia.n.u.s_, [242] that the ancient _Amazons_ breaking through many nations, attack"d the _Athenians_, and there receiving a great slaughter retired to _Thermodon_: and _Justin_, [243] that these _Amazons_ had at first, he means at their first coming to _Thermodon_, two Queens who called themselves daughters of _Mars_; and that they conquered part of _Europe_, and some cities of _Asia_, _viz._ in the Reign of _Minerva_, and then sent back part of their army with a great booty, under their said new Queens; and that _Marthesia_ being afterwards slain, was succeeded by her daughter _Orithya_, and she by _Penthesilea_; and that _Theseus_ captivated and married _Antiope_ the sister of _Orithya_. _Hercules_ made war upon the _Amazons_, and in the Reign of _Orithya_ and _Penthesilea_ they came to the _Trojan_ war: whence the first wars of the _Amazons_ in _Europe_ and _Asia_, and their settling at _Thermodon_, were but one Generation before those actions of _Hercules_ and _Theseus_, and but two before the _Trojan_ war, and so fell in with the expedition of _Sesostris_: and since they warred in the days of _Isis_ and her son _Orus_, and were a part of the army of _Bacchus_ or _Osiris_, we have here a further argument for making _Osiris_ and _Bacchus_ contemporary to _Sesostris_, and all three one and the same King with _Sesac_.
The _Greeks_ reckon _Osiris_ and _Bacchus_ to be sons of _Jupiter_, and the _Egyptian_ name of _Jupiter_ is _Ammon_. _Manetho_ in his 11th and 12th _Dynasties_, as he is cited by _Africa.n.u.s_ and _Eusebius_ names these four Kings of _Egypt_, as reigning in order; _Ammenemes_, _Gesongeses_ or _Sesonchoris_ the son of _Ammenemes_, _Ammenemes_ who was slain by his Eunuchs, and _Sesostris_ who subdued all _Asia_ and part of _Europe_.
_Gesongeses_ and _Sesonchoris_ are corruptly written for _Sesonchosis_; and the two first of these four Kings, _Ammenemes_ and _Sesonchosis_, are the same with the two last, _Ammenemes_ and _Sesostris_, that is, with _Ammon_ and _Sesac_; for _Diodorus_ saith [244] that _Osiris_ built in _Thebes_ a magnificent temple to his parents _Jupiter_ and _Juno_, and two other temples to _Jupiter_, a larger to _Jupiter Uranius_, and a less to his father _Jupiter Ammon_ who reigned in that city: and [245] _Thymaetes_ abovementioned, who was contemporary to _Orpheus_, wrote expresly that the father of _Bacchus_ was _Ammon_, a King Reigning over part of _Libya_, that is, a King of _Egypt_ Reigning over all that part of _Libya_, anciently called _Ammonia_. _Stepha.n.u.s_ [246] saith ?asa ?? ???? ???t?? e?a?e?t? ap?
?????? _All _Libya_ was anciently called _Ammonia_ from _Ammon__: this is that King of _Egypt_ from whom _Thebes_ was called _No-Ammon_, and _Ammon-no_ the city of _Ammon_, and by the _Greeks Diospolis_, the city of _Jupiter Ammon_: _Sesostris_ built it sumptuously, and called it by his father"s name, and from the same King the [247] River called _Ammon_, the people called _Ammonii_, and the [248] promontory _Ammonium_ in _Arabia faelix_ had their names.
The lower part of _Egypt_ being yearly overflowed by the _Nile_, was scarce inhabited before the invention of corn, which made it useful: and the King, who by this invention first peopled it and Reigned over it, perhaps the King of the city _Mesir_ where _Memphis_ was afterwards built, seems to have been worshipped by his subjects after death, in the ox or calf, for this benefaction: for this city stood in the most convenient place to people the lower _Egypt_, and from its being composed of two parts seated on each side of the river _Nile_, might give the name of _Mizraim_ to its founder and people; unless you had rather refer the word to the double people, those above the _Delta_, and those within it: and this I take to be the state of the lower _Egypt_, "till the Shepherds or _Phnicians_ who fled from _Joshuah_ conquered it, and being afterwards conquered by the _Ethiopians_, fled into _Afric_ and other places: for there was a tradition that some of them fled into _Afric_; and St. _Austin_ [249] confirms this, by telling us that the common people of _Afric_ being asked who they were, replied _Chanani_, that is, _Canaanites_. _Interrogati rustici nostri_, saith he, _quid sint, Punice respondentes Chanani, corrupta scilicet voce sicut in talibus solet, quid aliud respondent quam Chanaanaei?_ _Procopius_ also [250] tells us of two pillars in the west of _Afric_, with inscriptions signifying that the people were _Canaanites_ who fled from _Joshuah_: and _Eusebius_ [251] tells us, that these _Canaanites_ flying from the sons of _Israel_, built _Tripolis_ in _Afric_; and the _Jerusalem Gemara_, [252] that the _Gergesites_ fled from _Joshua_, going into _Afric_: and _Procopius_ relates their flight in this manner. ?pe? de ??a?
?? t?? ??st???a? ????? e?ta??" ??a?e?. epa?a??e? e?pe?? a???e?, ???e? te ta ?a????s??? e??? e? ????? ???e, ?a? ??p?? ????sa?t?. ?pe?d? ???a??? e?
????pt?? a?e????sa?, ?a? a??? t?? ?a?a?st???? ?????? e?e???t?? ??s?? e?
s?f?? a???, ??? a?t?? t?? ??d?? ????sat?, ???s?e?. d?ade?eta? de t??
???e???a? ??s??? ?? t?? ?a?? pa??? ??? e? te t?? ?a?a?st???? t?? ?e??
t??t?? e?s??a?e? ?a? a?et?? e? t?? p??e?? ??e?ss? ?? ?ata a????p?? f?s??
ep?de??ae???, t?? ???a? es?e? ?a? ta e??? ?apa?ta ?atast?e?ae???, ta?
p??e?? e?pet?? pa?est?sat?, a????t?? te pa?tapas?? ed??e? e??a?. t?te de ??
ep??a?a.s.s?a ???a, e? S?d???? e??? t?? ????pt?? ??????, F?????? ??pasa ???a?et?. as??e?? de e?? t? pa?a??? efest??e?? ??spe? ?apas??
???????ta?, ??? F??????? ta a??a??tata a?e??a?a?t?. e?ta??" ????t? e???
p???a????p?tata, Ge??esa??? te ?a? ?e??sa???, ?a? a??a atta ???ata e???ta, ???? d? a?ta ?? t?? ???a??? ??st???a ?a?e?. ???t?? ?? ?a?? epe?
aa??? t? ???a t?? ep???t?? st?at???? e?d??? e? ???? t?? pat????
e?a?asta?te?, ep" ????pt?? ?????? ??s?? e????sa?. e??a ????? ??de?a sf?s??
???a??? e?????sas?a? ?e????te?, epe? e? ????pt? p???a????p?a e? pa?a??? ???
e? ????? e??? st???? t?? ???a??e??? es???? e?ta??a te ?a? e? ee t??
F??????? f???? ???e??? ?????ta?. _Quando ad Mauros nos historia deduxit, congruens nos exponere unde orta gens in Africa sedes fixerit. Quo tempore egressi aegypto Hebraei jam prope Palestinae fines venerant, mortuus ibi Moses, vir sapiens, dux itineris. Successor imperii factus Jesus Navae filius intra Palaestinam duxit popularium agmen; & virtute usus supra humanum modum, terram occupavit, gentibusque excisis urbes ditionis suae fecit, & invicti famam tulit. Maritima ora quae a Sidone ad aegypti limitem extenditur, nomen habet Phnices. Rex unus _[Hebraeis]_ imperabat ut omnes qui res Phnicias scripsere consentiunt. In eo tractatu numerosae gentes erant, Gergesaei, Jebusaei, quosque aliis nominibus Hebraeorum annales memorant. Hi homines ut impares se venienti imperatori videre, derelicto patriae solo ad finitimam primum venere aegyptum, sed ibi capacem tantae mult.i.tudinis loc.u.m non reperientes, erat enim aegyptus ab antiquo fcunda populis, in Africam profecti, multis conditis urbibus, omnem eam Herculis columnas usque, obtinuerunt: ubi ad meam aetatem sermone Phnicio utentes habitant_. By the language and extreme poverty of the _Moors_, described also by _Procopius_ and by their being unacquainted with merchandise and sea-affairs, you may know that they were _Canaanites_ originally, and peopled _Afric_ before the _Tyrian_ merchants came thither. These _Canaanites_ coming from the East, pitched their tents in great numbers in the lower _Egypt_, in the Reign of _Timaus_, as [253] _Manetho_ writes, and easily seized the country, and fortifying _Pelusium_, then called _Abaris_, they erected a Kingdom there, and Reigned long under their own Kings, _Salatis_, _Bon_, _Apachnas_, _Apophis_, _Janias_, _a.s.sis_, and others successively: and in the mean time the upper part of _Egypt_ called _Thebais_, and according to [254] _Herodotus_, _aegyptus_, and in Scripture the land of _Pathros_, was under other Kings, Reigning perhaps at _Coptos_, and _Thebes_, and _This_, and _Syene_, and [255] _Pathros_, and _Elephantis_, and _Heracleopolis_, and _Mesir_, and other great cities, "till they conquered one another, or were conquered by the _Ethiopians_: for cities grew great in those days, by being the seats of Kingdoms: but at length one of these Kingdoms conquered the rest, and made a lasting war upon the Shepherds, and in the Reign of its King _Misphragmuthosis_, and his son _Amosis_, called also _Tethmosis_, _Tuthmosis_, and _Th.o.m.osis_, drove them out of _Egypt_, and made them fly into _Afric_ and _Syria_, and other places, and united all _Egypt_ into one Monarchy; and under their next Kings, _Ammon_ and _Sesac_, enlarged it into a great Empire. This conquering people worshipped not the Kings of the Shepherds whom they conquered and expelled, but [256] abolished their religion of sacrificing men, and after the manner of those ages Deified their own Kings, who founded their new Dominion, beginning the history of their Empire with the Reign and great acts of their G.o.ds and Heroes: whence their G.o.ds _Ammon_ and _Rhea_, or _Ura.n.u.s_ and _t.i.taea_; _Osiris_ and _Isis_; _Orus_ and _Bubaste_: and their Secretary _Thoth_, and Generals _Hercules_ and _Pan_; and Admiral _j.a.petus_, _Neptune_, or _Typhon_; were all of them _Thebans_, and flourished after the expulsion of the Shepherds. _Homer_ places _Thebes_ in _Ethiopia_, and the _Ethiopians_ reported that [257] the _Egyptians_ were a colony drawn out of them by _Osiris_, and that thence it came to pa.s.s that most of the laws of _Egypt_ were the same with those of _Ethiopia_, and that the _Egyptians_ learnt from the _Ethiopians_ the custom of Deifying their Kings.
When _Joseph_ entertained his brethren in _Egypt_, they did eat at a table by themselves, and he did eat at another table by himself; and the _Egyptians_ who did eat with him were at another table, _because the _Egyptians_ might not eat bread with the _Hebrews_; for that was an abomination to the _Egyptians__, _Gen._ xliii. 32. These _Egyptians_ who did eat with _Joseph_ were of the Court of _Pharaoh_; and therefore _Pharaoh_ and his Court were at this time not Shepherds but genuine _Egyptians_; and these _Egyptians_ abominated eating bread with the _Hebrews_, at one and the same table: and of these _Egyptians_ and their fellow-subjects, it is said a little after, that _every Shepherd is an abomination to the _Egyptians__: _Egypt_ at this time was therefore under the government of the genuine _Egyptians_, and not under that of the Shepherds.
After the descent of _Jacob_ and his sons into _Egypt_, _Joseph_ lived 70 years, and so long continued in favour with the Kings of _Egypt_: and 64 years after his death _Moses_ was born: and between the death of _Joseph_ and the birth of _Moses_, _there arose up a new King over _Egypt_, which knew not _Joseph__, _Exod._ i. 8. But this King of _Egypt_ was not one of the Shepherds; for he is called _Pharaoh_, _Exod._ i. 11, 22: and _Moses_ told his successor, that if the people of _Israel_ should sacrifice in the land of _Egypt_, _they should sacrifice the abomination of the _Egyptians_ before their eyes, and the _Egyptians_ would stone them_, _Exod._ viii. 26.
that is, they should sacrifice sheep or oxen, contrary to the religion of _Egypt_. The Shepherds therefore did not Reign over _Egypt_ while _Israel_ was there, but either were driven out of _Egypt_ before _Israel_ went down thither, or did not enter into _Egypt_ "till after _Moses_ had brought _Israel_ from thence: and the latter must be true, if they were driven out of _Egypt_ a little before the building of the temple of _Solomon_, as _Manetho_ affirms.
_Diodorus_ [258] saith in his 40th book, _that in _Egypt_ there were formerly mult.i.tudes of strangers of several nations, who used foreign rites and ceremonies in worshipping the G.o.ds, for which they were expelled _Egypt_; and under _Danaus_, _Cadmus_, and other skilful commanders, after great hardships, came into _Greece_, and other places; but the greatest part of them came into _Judaea_, not far from _Egypt_, a country then uninhabited and desert, being conducted thither by one _Moses_, a wise and valiant man, who after he had possest himself of the country, among other things built _Jerusalem_, and the Temple._ _Diodorus_ here mistakes the original of the _Israelites_, as _Manetho_ had done before, confounding their flight into the wilderness under the conduct of _Moses_, with the flight of the Shepherds from _Misphragmuthosis_, and his son _Amosis_, into _Phnicia_ and _Afric_; and not knowing that _Judaea_ was inhabited by _Canaanites_, before the _Israelites_ under _Moses_ came thither: but however, he lets us know that the Shepherds were expelled _Egypt_ by _Amosis_, a little before the building of _Jerusalem_ and the Temple, and that after several hardships several of them came into _Greece_, and other places, under the conduct of _Cadmus_, and other Captains, but the most of them Settled in _Phnicia_ next _Egypt_. We may reckon therefore that the expulsion of the Shepherds by the Kings of _Thebais_, was the occasion that the _Philistims_ were so numerous in the days of _Saul_; and that so many men came in those times with colonies out of _Egypt_ and _Phnicia_ into _Greece_; as _Lelex_, _Inachus_, _Pelasgus_, _aezeus_, _Cecrops_, _aegialeus_, _Cadmus_, _Phnix_, _Membliarius_, _Alymnus_, _Abas_, _Erechtheus_, _Peteos_, _Phorbas_, in the days of _Eli_, _Samuel_, _Saul_ and _David_: some of them fled in the days of _Eli_, from _Misphragmuthosis_, who conquered part of the lower _Egypt_; others retired from his Successor _Amosis_ into _Phnicia_, and _Arabia Petraea_, and there mixed with the old inhabitants; who not long after being conquered by _David_, fled from him and the _Philistims_ by sea, under the conduct of _Cadmus_ and other Captains, into _Asia Minor_, _Greece_, and _Libya_, to seek new seats, and there built towns, erected Kingdoms, and set on foot the worship of the dead: and some of those who remained in _Judaea_ might a.s.sist _David_ and _Solomon_, in building _Jerusalem_ and the Temple. Among the foreign rites used by the strangers in _Egypt_, in worshipping the G.o.ds, was the sacrificing of men; for _Amosis_ abolished that custom at _Heliopolis_: and therefore those strangers were _Canaanites_, such as fled from _Joshua_; for the _Canaanites_ gave their seed, that is, their children, to _Moloch_, _and burnt their sons and their daughters in the fire to their G.o.ds_, _Deut._ xii. 31. _Manetho_ calls them _Phnician_ strangers.
After _Amosis_ had expelled the Shepherds, and extended his dominion over all _Egypt_, his son and Successor _Ammenemes_ or _Ammon_, by much greater conquests laid the foundation of the _Egyptian_ Empire: for by the a.s.sistance of his young son _Sesostris_, whom he brought up to hunting and other laborious exercises, he conquered _Arabia_, _Troglodytica_, and _Libya_: and from him all _Libya_ was anciently called _Ammonia_: and after his death, in the temples erected to him at _Thebes_, and in _Ammonia_ and at _Meroe_ in _Ethiopia_, they set up Oracles to him, and made the people worship him as the G.o.d that acted in them: and these are the oldest Oracles mentioned in history; the _Greeks_ therein imitating the _Egyptians_: for the [259] Oracle at _Dodona_ was the oldest in _Greece_, and was set up by an _Egyptian_ woman, after the example of the Oracle of _Jupiter Ammon_ at _Thebes_.
In the days of _Ammon_ a body of the _Edomites_ fled from _David_ into _Egypt_, with their young King _Hadad_, as above; and carried thither their skill in navigation: and this seems to have given occasion to the _Egyptians_ to build a fleet on the _Red Sea_ near _Coptos_, and might ingratiate _Hadad_ with _Pharaoh_: for the _Midianites_ and _Ishmaelites_, who bordered upon the _Red Sea_, near _Mount h.o.r.eb_ on the south-side of _Edom_, were merchants from the days of _Jacob_ the Patriarch, _Gen._ x.x.xvii. 28, 36. and by their merchandise the _Midianites_ abounded with gold in the days of _Moses_, _Numb._ x.x.xi. 50, 51, 52. and in the days of the judges of _Israel_, _because they were _Ishmaelites__, _Judg._ viii 24.
The _Ishmaelites_ therefore in those days grew rich by merchandise; they carried their merchandise on camels through _Petra_ to _Rhinocolura_, and thence to _Egypt_: and this trafic at length came into the hands of _David_, by his conquering the _Edomites_, and gaining the ports of the _Red Sea_ called _Eloth_ and _Ezion-Geber_, as may be understood by the 3000 talents of gold of _Ophir_, which _David_ gave to the Temple, 1 _Chron._ xxix. 4. The _Egyptians_ having the art of making linen-cloth, they began about this time to build long Ships with sails, in their port on those Seas near _Coptos_, and having learnt the skill of the _Edomites_, they began now to observe the positions of the Stars, and the length of the Solar Year, for enabling them to know the position of the Stars at any time, and to sail by them at all times, without sight of the sh.o.a.r: and this gave a beginning to Astronomy and Navigation: for hitherto they had gone only by the sh.o.a.r with oars, in round vessels of burden, first invented on that shallow sea by the posterity of _Abraham_, and in pa.s.sing from island to island guided themselves by the sight of the islands in the day time, or by the sight of some of the Stars in the night. Their old year was the Lunisolar year, derived from _Noah_ to all his posterity, "till those days, and consisted of twelve months, each of thirty days, according to their calendar: and to the end of this calendar-year they now added five days, and thereby made up the Solar year of twelve months and five days, or 365 days.
The ancient _Egyptians_ feigned [260] that _Rhea_ lay secretly with _Saturn_, and _Sol_ prayed that she might bring forth neither in any month, nor in the year; and that _Mercury_ playing at dice with _Luna_, overcame, and took from the Lunar year the 72d part of every day, and thereof composed five days, and added them to the year of 360 days, that she might bring forth in them; and that the _Egyptians_ celebrated those days as the birth-days of _Rhea_"s five children, _Osiris_, _Orus_ senior, _Typhon_, _Isis_, and _Nephthe_ the wife of _Typhon_: and therefore, according to the opinion of the ancient _Egyptians_, the five days were added to the Lunisolar calendar-year, in the Reign of _Saturn_ and _Rhea_, the parents of _Osiris_, _Isis_, and _Typhon_; that is, in the Reign of _Ammon_ and _t.i.taea_, the parents of the _t.i.tans_; or in the latter half of the Reign of _David_, when those _t.i.tans_ were born, and by consequence soon after the flight of the _Edomites_ from _David_ into _Egypt_: but the Solstices not being yet settled, the beginning of this new year might not be fixed to the Vernal Equinox before the Reign of _Amenophis_ the successor of _Orus_ junior, the Son of _Osiris_ and _Isis_.
When the _Edomites_ fled from _David_ with their young King _Hadad_ into _Egypt_, it is probable that they carried thither also the use of letters: for letters were then in use among the posterity of _Abraham_ in _Arabia Petraea_, and upon the borders of the _Red Sea_, the Law being written there by _Moses_ in a book, and in tables of stone, long before: for _Moses_ marrying the daughter of the prince of _Midian_, and dwelling with him forty years, learnt them among the _Midianites_: and _Job_, who lived [261]
among their neighbours the _Edomites_, mentions the writing down or words, as there in use in his days, _Job._ xix. 23, 24. and there is no instance of letters for writing down sounds, being in use before the days of _David_, in any other nation besides the posterity of _Abraham_. The _Egyptians_ ascribed this invention to _Thoth_, the secretary of _Osiris_; and therefore Letters began to be in use in _Egypt_ in the days of _Thoth_, that is, a little after the flight of the _Edomites_ from _David_, or about the time that _Cadmus_ brought them into _Europe_.
_h.e.l.ladius_ [262] tells us, that a man called _Oes_, who appeared in the _Red Sea_ with the tail of a fish, so they painted a sea-man, taught Astronomy and Letters: and _Hyginus_, [263] that _Euhadnes_, who came out of the Sea in _Chaldaea_, taught the _Chaldaeans_ Astrology the first of any man; he means Astronomy: and _Alexander Polyhistor_ [264] tells us from _Berosus_, that _Oannes_ taught the _Chaldaeans_ Letters, Mathematicks, Arts, Agriculture, Cohabitation in Cities, and the Construction of Temples; and that several such men came thither successively. _Oes_, _Euhadnes_, and _Oannes_, seem to be the same name a little varied by corruption; and this name seems to have been given in common to several sea-men, who came thither from time to time, and by consequence were merchants, and frequented those seas with their merchandise, or else fled from their enemies: so that Letters, Astronomy, Architecture and Agriculture, came into _Chaldaea_ by sea, and were carried thither by sea-men, who frequented the _Persian Gulph_, and came thither from time to time, after all those things were practised in other countries whence they came, and by consequence in the days of _Ammon_ and _Sesac_, _David_ and _Solomon_, and their successors, or not long before. The _Chaldaeans_ indeed made _Oannes_ older than the flood of _Xisuthrus_, but the _Egyptians_ made _Osiris_ as old, and I make them contemporary.
The _Red Sea_ had its name not from its colour, but from _Edom_ and _Erythra_, the names of _Esau_, which signify that colour: and some [265]
tell us, that King _Erythra_, meaning _Esau_, invented the vessels, _rates_, in which they navigated that Sea, and was buried in an island thereof near the _Persian Gulph_: whence it follows, that the _Edomites_ navigated that Sea from the days of _Esau_; and there is no need that the oldest _Oannes_ should be older. There were boats upon rivers before, such as were the boats which carried the Patriarchs over _Euphrates_ and _Jordan_, and the first nations over many other rivers, for peopling the earth, seeking new seats, and invading one another"s territories: and after the example of such vessels, _Ishhmael_ and _Midian_ the sons of _Abraham_, and _Esau_ his grandson, might build larger vessels to go to the islands upon the _Red Sea_, in searching for new seats, and by degrees learn to navigate that sea, as far as to the _Persian Gulph_: for ships were as old, even upon the _Mediterranean_, as the days of _Jacob_, _Gen._ xlix. 13.
_Judg._ v. 17. but it is probable that the merchants of that sea were not forward to discover their Arts and Sciences, upon which their trade depended: it seems therefore that Letters and Astronomy, and the trade of Carpenters, were invented by the merchants of the _Red Sea_, for writing down their merchandise, and keeping their accounts, and guiding their ships in the night by the Stars, and building ships; and that they were propagated from _Arabia Petraea_ into _Egypt_, _Chaldaea_, _Syria_, _Asia minor_, and _Europe_, much about one and the same time; the time in which _David_ conquered and dispersed those merchants: for we hear nothing of Letters before the days of _David_, except among the posterity of _Abraham_; nothing of Astronomy, before the _Egyptians_ under _Ammon_ and _Sesac_ applied themselves to that study, except the Constellations mentioned by _Job_, who lived in _Arabia Petraea_ among the merchants; nothing of the trade of Carpenters, or good Architecture, before _Solomon_ sent to _Hiram_ King of _Tyre_, to supply him with such Artificers, saying that _there were none in _Israel_ who could skill to hew timber like the _Zidonians__.
_Diodorus_ [266] tells us, _that the _Egyptians_ sent many colonies out of _Egypt_ into other countries; and that _Belus_, the son of _Neptune_ and _Libya_, carried colonies thence into _Babylonia_, and seating himself on _Euphrates_, inst.i.tuted priests free from taxes and publick expences, after the manner of _Egypt_, who were called _Chaldaeans_, and who after the manner of _Egypt_, might observe the Stars_: and _Pausanias_ [267] tells us, _that the _Belus_ of the _Babylonians_ had his name from _Belus_ an _Egyptian_, the son of _Libya__: and _Apollodorus_; [268] _that _Belus_ the son of _Neptune_ and _Libya_, and King of _Egypt_, was the father of _aegyptus_ and _Danaus__, that is, _Ammon_: he tells us also, _that _Busiris_ the son of _Neptune_ and _Lisiana.s.sa_ _[Libyana.s.sa]_ the daughter of _Epaphus_, was King of _Egypt__; and _Eusebius_ calls this King, __Busiris_ the son of _Neptune_, and of _Libya_ the daughter of _Epaphus__.